Motherhood in Toni Morrison’s Beloved: A Psychological Reading by Sandra Mayfield, is a detailed work of art. Mayfield compares African American writers’ works to Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” She says that not many other writers before Toni Morrison had “attempted to recreate the internal life of the mind and the spirit of a slave woman.” Writings describing the “theories of motherhood” were used to analyze Sethe. Her love for her children is analyzed with other characters who feel a certain way about her motherly love in the book as well.
Lacanian’s analysis of Beloved is agreeable upon. He says the great motherly love that Sethe has for her children is not just for her own blood, but she comes with open arms. She welcomed a stranger into her home, Beloved, who she treated as her own daughter. Her maternal love is so great that she was oblivious to Beloved’s evil intentions. Patricia Hill Collins builds off of this idea as well. Collin says, “Motherhood—whether blood mother, other mother, or community other mother—can be invoked by African American women as a symbol of power.” This is saying that African American women have morals to take care of anyone in their community, whether they are blood related or not.
Although it seems as if Sethe’s heart may have been too big, I disagree with Lacanian’s and Collins’ analysis of Toni Morrison’s motherhood. I believe that Sethe felt a relationship between her and Beloved, although it was strange she felt something distinctive about Beloved. Collins says that there is a power that results from African American women’s motherhood. I believe that power is the “aje.” From The Mother-Daughter Aje Relationship in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, “aje” is said to be a spiritual force which brings a mother and daughter together. I believe that this is what influenced Sethe to welcome Beloved into her home. Even though she didn’t know directly that Beloved was her own, she felt the power of a mother, that is why she let her into her life.
That's a very interesting blog post, Lourdes! I really like how you state the opinion of Mayfield and not only explain what she is thinking but give your opinion as well. It's interesting how you bring up the ideas of "Aje", something which I have never heard before, but I think your explanation of why Sethe let Beloved back into her home is so accurate and I couldn't agree more with you. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis a very interesting! I like how you weren't afraid to disagree with the writer of the article and you stated why. You addressed the writers believes and your own believes really well.
ReplyDeleteAt first when I read your blog first, I started agreeing with the first part of what you said, but then I agreed with you about the "spiritual force" Sethe felt towards Beloved. You used a lot of resources in your blog post, which was interesting because you gave us different points of views on motherhood. I think the part you talked about "Aje" was very fascinating, since I had never heard of that before!
ReplyDeleteAt first when I read your blog first, I started agreeing with the first part of what you said, but then I agreed with you about the "spiritual force" Sethe felt towards Beloved. You used a lot of resources in your blog post, which was interesting because you gave us different points of views on motherhood. I think the part you talked about "Aje" was very fascinating, since I had never heard of that before!
ReplyDelete